Carton for packaging radio tubes and like articles



Jan. 9, 1951 J. E. MIRES 2,537,151

CARTON FOR PACKAGING RADIO TUBES AND LIKE ARTICLES Filed Sept. 12, 19463 Sheets-Sheet l fly-i \NvaNToR 1.2.. mass 5 .7 %JMyZ fG.

Jan 9 1 J. E. MIRES 2,537,151

CARTON FOR PACKAGING RADIO TUBES AND LIKE ARTICLES Filed Sept. 12, 19463 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR $7 .9 J.E..MIRES Patented Jan. 9, 1951 CARTONFOR PACKAGENG RADIO TUBES AND LIKE ARTICLES .ioseph Everette Mir-es,London, Ontario, Canada,

ass gnor to Somerville Limited, London, n-

tario, Canada.

Application September 12, 1946, Serial No. 696,424

1 Claim.

This invention relates to cartons for packaging radio tubes particularlyand articles of like character.

In the, packaging; of radio tubes and the like, ity is necessary toprovide against breakage since such articles are very frangible.Usually, therefore, a package compound in character is necessaryemploying corrugated wrappers or packing to assure that sufiicientcushioning will be provided, against breakage. This involves expense andtime, both inrespect to packaging, unpackaging and the materialsinvolved which is necessarily disadvantageous. The present inventionovercomes these difiiculties.

Itis an object of the present invention to provide a simple carton intowhich a radio tube or the, like may be easily mounted and temporarilylocked with adequate provision against breakage and handling.

A further object of the invention is to provide a. carton of this kindwhich involves little more than the average walls and flaps of a carton,thus employing a minimum of -material while simplity packaging andunpackaging operations.

A. still further object of the invention, is to provide a carton of thiskind provided. with a special simplified means designed to facilitatethe unpackaging of the carton.

With these and other objects in view, the invention generally comprisesa carton formed from a blank defining four side walls foldable onetoanother to form a generally rectangular package, and including a,panel and tabs. foldable into the interior of the package which includea means of engaging a radio tube or the like in a manner to hold itfirmly in spaced relation to the walls of the carton. Preferably thecarton includes alternative, forms wherein the product may be held inthe carton by means of inwardly directed tabs at each end or again bymeans of the inwardly projecting portions of the side walls cooperatingwith the-tabs at one of said ends of the carton disposed intermediatethe ends thereof in order to engage and retain smaller articles which itmaybe desirable to house in a carton of a size which will normally takelarger or longer articles.

The invention will be clearly understood by reference to the followingdetailed specification taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a carton blank according to the presentinvention.

Fig. 2* is a longitudinal section taken through a set up carton showingthe manner in which it retains a radio tube therein.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the carton in partially set up conditionshowing the mounting panel and the locking flaps prior to folding intothe interior of the carton. I

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View of th upper end of the cartonshowing the manner in which the mounting panel is folded therewithin andprior to folding of the final flap at this end of the carton.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the bottom end of the cartonshowing the manner in which the locking flaps are folded inwardly.

Fig. 6 is a similar view to Fig. 5 showing the locking flaps in completeinwardly folded position.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an alternative form of carton.

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section taken through the carton shown in Fig.7.

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a further alternathe view of carton.

Fig. 10 isv a longitudinal section taken through the carton shown inFig. 9.v

Figure 11 is a plan illustration of the blank of a further alternativeform of a carton.

Figure 12 is a perspective view of the blank shown in Figure 11partially foided as the carton is. being. set up; and

Figure 13, is a longitudinal section taken through the set up carton ofthe type shown in Figures 11 and 12.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a blank for a carton designed topackage radio tubes or the like, which blank is made up of four sidewalls H), H; l2 and I3 foldably connected with one another along thefold lines it. The side wall it}. is provided with the gluing flap I5 sothat when the sides are folded in proper manner and the flap to secured.to the outer edge of side wall it, a tubular container of rectangularcross-section is formed. To the upper edge of side wall 52 a mountingpanel It is connected. This is foldable along the fold lines H andembodies the central section it formed with a circular opening Hi, theside and end tabs 2% and 2| and the hinging web 22 formed with the foldline 23 transversely across it intermediate its length. The centralsection it is defined by fold lines between the tabs 25 and 2! and theweb 22 to form a panel square in cross-section correspondingsubstantially to the cross-sectional area of the tube formed by theset-up side walls. Conse quently, if the web 22 is folded along the foldline i! in one direction and folded along the fold line-'23 in theopposite direction, such as partially illustrated inFig. 3, the mountingpanel may be disposed within the upper end of the carton so that it willextend transversely across the inte rior of the latter a distance fromthe upper end corresponding to the full length of the web 22. In thisinstance, the tabs 2;} and. 2! folding along their line of connectionwith the centre section 18 will lie against corresponding walls of thecarton on the interior thereof, such as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 4.The mounting panel is secured in this position firmly in two ways.

In the first instance, a tongue 2% and a tongue 25 are cut into tabs Eliand 2i such that when the latter are folded at right angles to thecentre section l8, they will project outwardly beyond the centre sectionin the same plane. Consequently when the mounting panel is folded to liewithin the upper end of the carton, the tongues 24 and 25 are caused toover-ride the upper edge of slots 26 formed in the upper extremities ofwalls It and H of the carton and to press outwardly the tabs 2'?normally closing the slots 26.

The tabs 2'! will have a tendency to press upon the projecting ends ofthe tongues 26 and 25, thus more firmly to hold the latter in thistemporarily locked position. Finally, in respect to holding the mountingpanel in position, the flap 28 is carried on the end of side wall it andis foldable along its fold line 2e to enter the interior of the cartonwhen it is set up and to engage behind one edge of the flap 2!. gagebehind one edge of the web 22. Thus, the flap 28 in addition to theflaps 29 and El and the Web 22 form a reinforcing edge around the top ofthe carton to provide against inward depression thereof while thelocking tongues hold the central section of the panel firmly inposition.

The central hole or orifice is is formed of a size to receive one end ofthe article being packaged, such as a radio tube, and thus to hold it incompletely spaced relation to all side walls of the carton. This isclearly indicated in Fig. 2. Thus, when the other end of the article isheld in a substantially corresponding manner, the

spacing between the article and the side walls of I vthe carton functionto prevent inadvertent damage to the article if the side walls of thecarton are inadvertently depressed to some extent.

The lower end of the carton is designed to hold the article in suchspaced relation and is designed to permit ready packaging as well as tolock the article temporarily in its mounted position. In this respect,the lower ends of the side walls It], H, l2 and is are formed with theflaps 30, 3|, 32 and 33, the flaps 39 and 22 corresponding in shape andthe 3: and 33 corresponding in shape. The flaps and 32 are formed withthe centrally projecting tabs 34, while the flaps 3| and 33 are formedwith inwardly sloping side edges 35 and the outwardly projecting tongues36 at their outer extremities, which forms a substantial notch in eachedge of these tabs. The tabs 34 on the other hand are formed withinwardly sloping side edges so that upon turning the flaps 3d and 522inwardly to extend within the confines of the rectangular tube formed bythe assembled side walls if) to M and then turning the flaps 3i and 33inwardly, the outwardly projecting tongues 35 will brush past the tabs34 and will lodge beneath their side edges in each instance (see Figs.and 6 for detail). quently, in terms of the mounting of a radio tubewithin the package, the end edges of the flaps 3! and 33 and the endedges of the tabs 34 of the fiaps 39 and 32 will engage the base of thetube, as shown in Fig. 2, and hold such tube se- It may also en-Conselit curely in place disposed between the mounting panel l6 and theinwardly turned bottom flaps of the carton so that the tube is held inspaced relation to the side walls of the package and firmly locked insuch position. Thus, in this simple manner, a radio tube or the like canbe safely packed and handled with less diificulty and cost than in thecase of special wrappings heretofore normally used.

To remove the tube is a relatively simple matter. In this respect, theupper edges of the side walls l0 and H are preferably recessed as at 31to provide thumb and finger notches and the upper extremities of theflaps 2i} and 2! are normally uncovered by these recesses. Therefore, bygrasping either one of the flaps 26 or 2i and pulling them forcefull thepanel Hi can be disengaged from the tube or other article of this kind,thus to permit its ready removal. Normally, however, without a specialremoving operation of this kind, the tube is ver firmly held in thepackage and cannot be dislodged in normal handling.

Alternative forms of construction apply with the same advantages and insome cases increased advantage. In this connection, reference isdirected to Figures '7, 8, 9, and 10 taking into consideration Figures 7and 8 in the first instance.

The carton B shown in Figures 7 and 8 is of the same general form buteliminates the panel I6 of Figure 1 as a holding medium for a tube orthe like and substitutes in its stead a series of flaps 38a, 3 la, 32a(Figure 8) and 330. which correspond exactly to the flaps 3S, 3!, 32,and 33 of Figure 1 and which are disposed at the opposite end of thecarton shown in Figures 7 and 8. Thus, these inwardly directed tabs aredesigned to engage the opposite end of a radio tube or the like toretain the article firmly in spaced relation tothe walls of the carton.Accordingly, therefore, the article is readily packaged by merelyturning in the series of flaps 39 to 33 and 33a to 33a to engage thearticle in a manner shown in Figure 8. In order to facilitateunpackaging, the carton is formed with a transverse weakened line 38which extends transversely across each side wall of the cartonintermediate the ends of the carton so that it is only necessary thatits weakened line be broken to separate the carton into two halves thusto permit the ready removal of the article therefrom.

In Figures 9 and 10 a further alternative form is shown which adapts thecarton to the packaging of articles of shorter length. In thisconnection, in addition to the weakened line 33 disposed substantiallymidway between-the ends of the carton, the latter is provided with aseries of weakened lines in spaced parallel relation theretointermediate one end of the carton and said weakened line 38 such thatone of each series extends from each corner of the carton partiallyalong each side wall to demark inwardly projectable wall sections 39 and49. Thus by pressing the corners of the carton inwardly between theparallel weakened lines, the sections 38 and 40 are caused to projectinwardly of the carton to form shoulders (Figure 10) so that they willengage a portion of a shorter article to be housed within the carton andthereby hold it as shown in Figure 10 firmly secured between theterminal edges of the fiaps 35 to 33. This article may readily beunpackaged by breaking the carton in half along the weakened line 33 asa most convenient manner of unpackaging.

Reference is now made to Figures v.11.. to. v1.3.

assured which disclose-astill further alternative form of construction.In Figure 11 the blank of the carcludes an end closure flap Ida and theflaps Ma and t3a designed to overlapone another and to underlie theclosure flap lilo when the carbon is setup as partially shown, forinstance, in-Figure 13. In addition to these walls, the blank isprovided wi-tha fifth wall 42 foldably connected with the wall 13 alongfold line 5212. At one end of the wall 42 it is formed into a panel 43substantially corresponding to the panel 18 in Figure 1 and which inturnisprovided with the end tab M. The panel it-is supported from the wall[3 along the edge 43a and is foldably connected along the line 43b withthe end of the wall 42. The tab at is foldably connected along the lineMa with the panel Q3.

The wall $2 is designed to underlap the wall H] of the carton when thecarton is set up. This will be relatively clear by reference to Figure12. Likewise, the anel 43, when folded along the line 43b, is designedto extend transversely across the interior of the carton and is shown aspartially folded towards this position in Figure 12. The panel 43 isdisposed at a position having regard to the length of wall 12 so as todispose it transversely across the carton at a predetermined point. Infact, this is determined by the size of the article which it is designedto engage when the latter is disposed in the carton. Assume, forinstance, that it is a small radio tube such as illustrated in Figure13, thus the panel 43 is disposed on the wall 12 so that it may becaused to extend transversely across the interior of the car'- ton infairly closely spaced relation to the end tabs 39b to 331). In the caseof a larger tube or article, this panel @3 might be disposed so it wouldextend across the interior of the carton midway between its ends or atsome different point according to the requirements of the case.

The blank is folded to set up the carton so that when the end wall it!is folded down from the position shown in Figure 12 to overlie the wall42 and. is fastened by the gluing flap l5a, the end flaps 30b to arefolded to extend inwardly as of the manner of the other forms ofconstruction previously described and such as illustrated in Figures 2,8, and (see Figure 13). The transverse panel 43 is disposed to extendtransversely across a carton in spaced relationship to the inner ends offlaps 30b to 331). Thus the central orifice it in panel $3 is disposedin alignment with the opening formed by the juncture of inwardly foldedflaps 30b to 33b. In this connection it will be noted that the tab M isfolded downwardly to lie along the inner surface of wall 12 of thecarton. The panel l2, however, requires support and may be supported inposition by means of the inwardly projectable wall sections 39a and 40a,respectively, formed in a manner corresponding to sections 39 and 49described in connection with Figures 9 and 10. Therefore, the panel mayrest against the shoulders formed by these inwardly projected wallsections. As a result, therefore, it will be obvious that if a radiotube or like article is projected through the opening formed at themeeting edges of the inwardly folded flaps 3% to 3%, a portion thereofwill pass through the orifice 56 in panel 43 while a shoulder thereof orother outward projection will en- 6, gage against the lower surface ofpanel 43am! willbe held. Moreover, as atube or like: article isproiected through the opening formed by the flaps 3th to. 3%, theywi'll'part. from one another to permit larger portions. of the tube topass into the carton and will tend to. return: to the original positionwhen such parts have so passed, thus: to engage the lower extremity ofsuch article-and retain it. in firm mounted position between the panel43; and such flaps, as clearly shown-in Figure 13.

ihe article so mounted in the cartondescribed isheld in spacedrelationship to the ends'and 'sides of the carton and the closure flap.illla forming the means of closing the opposite end of the carton. Itdoes not matter whether the article is spacedto a substantial degreefrom the end. flap. [0a and flaps Ha to. Ilia or whether it extendsclosely thereto. Likewise, it is obviouslthat the length-oithe cartonmight be relatively shorter than that disclosed in Figure 13.

In this form of carton, also, the walls may be formed with thetransversely extending weakened line 38a corresponding to line 38 inFigures 7 to 10 so that, if desired, the carton may be broken apart tofacilitate the removal of the tube. In this instance, the breaking ofthe carton along this line would necessarily remove the inwardlyprojected wall sections 3% and 48a, thus permitting the panel 53 to foldin the opposite direction to release the article. Of substantialimportance is the cooperative relation of the inwardly foldedinterlocking flaps 30b to 331), as is the case also in connection withthe flaps 30 to 33 and 36a to 33a shown in Figures 1 to 6 and 7 to 10,respectively. It is obvious that the inner free edges thereof formsupports, firmly to support "one end of the article, whereas apart fromthis eificient holding function it will be obvious that they play animportant part in the fast, efiicient packaging of the article. In otherwords, when these flaps are folded in their normal set up position, itis only necessary for the packager to project the tube or other articlethrough the base of the carton and it will automatically move into itsproper position and will be automatically locked in this proper positionas these flaps return to their normal interconnected position shown inFigures 2, 8, 10, and 13, respectively.

In the foregoing it will be clear that I have produced a simple type ofcarton which eliminates the necessity of employing special wrappers,etc., and operates to hold articles packed therein in firm spacedrelation to the carton through the medium of inwardly projecting meansforming a part of the carton which is designed to engage the article andretain it efficiently in the manner required. It is obvious that thecarton is simple in manipulation in all the various forms both in thecase of packaging and unpackaging.

What I claim as my invention is:

A carton for packaging radio tubes of various lengths but of the classin which each tube has a similar annular enlargement in the region ofthe base greater in diameter than the diameter of the casing or upperregions of the tube and wherein means are provided for holding the tuberigidly within the carton by engaging the annular enlargement of thetube and comprising a plurality of side walls terminating at one end toform flaps directed inwardly of the carton in a direction toward theopposite end thereof to constitute a loading end, said flaps beingdeflectable to allow passage of the upper portions of a radio tube ofthe said class and the annular enlargement thereof, means extendinginwardly of the carton walls to limit the passage of the tube and itsannular enlargement into the carton and spaced from the terminal ends ofsaid fiaps a distance greater than the axial depth of the annularenlargement of the tube but less than the distance from the engagedsurfaces of the annular enlargement to the extremities of the base ofthe tube, said flaps being movable after loading of the tube into thecarton to a position to engage the base of the tube by their terminalends, and a platform having a hole designed to accommodate passage ofthe casing of the radio tube above the annular enlargement 10 of thebase thereof and. positioned within the carton between the inwardlyextending means and the annular enlargement of a radio tube insertedthereinto.

JOSEPH EVERETTE MIRES.

8 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,039,026 Carter Sept. 17, 19121,281,501 Brown Oct. 15, 1918 1,681,287 French Aug. 21, 1928 101,985,075 Bird Dec. 18, 1934 2,178,967 Markert Nov. 7, 1939 2,335,913Buttery Dec. 7, 1943 2,438,879 Whitehead Mar. 30, 1948 r FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 27,861 Great Britain Dec. 3, 1913 203,953 GreatBritain 1923

